Data-Driven Marketing

Reactivate Your Inactive Subscribers Fast

Are your active subscribers higher in number than your inactive subscribers? If your inactive list is overflowing, it represents opportunities you can leverage for improving your email marketing results - read on to find out why not all is lost when your subscribers become inactive.

Fact: It’s not uncommon for brands of any size or industry to have email subscribers who aren’t engaging; however, it’s our job as marketers to not only grow your database and engage active users, but leverage reactivation campaigns in order to engage those who have become inactive.

“It’s Not You, It’s Me”

Why the inactive users? There are several potential reasons:

Change in email address/dormant email address

Lack of interest from subscriber/engaged by a different brand

Requires different service/product due to change in customer lifecycle

Signed up for one reason in particular; now receiving emails related to other reasons

Whatever the reason may be, you’re not alone: Industry standards reveal that up to half of most total email lists are inactive, with many industries having inactive rates as high as 70-80%, Inbox Marketer’s inactive subscribers have consistently been lower than 50% for the past 5 years, being as low as 38% in Q4 of 2017. Curious as to how we did it? Just ask.

A primary reason for diminishing inactive rates is that Inbox Marketer clients have done a better job at targeting and re-engaging their inactive segments, as well as keeping up-to-date lists for segments’ permission levels and consent among end-users.

Specifically, we have leveraged best practices and a few techniques with our clients in order to re-engage inactive subscribers: here are 3 go-to methods you can use to win-back your inactive user segments and level the playing field in your email marketing.

ASK WHY

Considering all the reasons mentioned above, do you know why your inactive users have become so? Did it have something to do with the frequency at which you sent emails? Was it their interest in your product that waned?

One of the best win-back campaigns and ways to improve your list hygiene is through simply asking users why they haven’t engaged. Email subject lines such as “Gone So Soon?” or “We Miss You” often remind users that they have previously engaged with your brand for a particular reason, which still may be valid.

Especially if you combine this email type with a more personalized approach that leverages the contacts name, the likelihood of engagement is that much higher.

If the percentage of your respondents is low, there’s always the option of contacting subscribers through other forms of media.

OFFER VALUE UP FRONT

If a win-back campaign is sent from an “info@___.com” address, the chances of engagement and reactivating subscribers is already sabotaged.

Directly within your subject line and email header, offer value up front to those who are inactive. A subject line of “We Miss You!” could easily be paired with “Take 10% Off” in order to incentivize end-user engagement.

By providing a value proposition up front, users are much more likely to not only reactivate, but convert on services/products your brand offers at the same time. Return Path estimates that The read rate for the win-back campaigns sent by these marketers is 12%.

“$ off” discounts in the subject line were nearly twice as successful at getting people to read the email than emails with % off discounts. Yet, most marketers use % off in their win-back email subject lines.

OFFER AN OUT

As illustrated with our client audits and assessments, CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation) compliance is crucial for your email marketing success for a number of reasons: one of them being that offering the right consent/unsubscribe mechanisms increases the level of trust among end-users, which is your most valuable commodity as a brand.

When sending a win-back campaign, ensure that your email design has the right mechanism in place for an unsubscribe. Not only is this friendly to consumer interest, but contributes to your list hygiene in the case that an end-user does want to unsubscribe and can be removed from your database.

How will you re-engage your inactive end users? Whether it’s by offering an incentive or getting personal again, we hope you leverage these tips to provide balance for your email database. For more tips and insights on how to reactivate inactive subscribers, contact us today.